3 Scary TRUE Snowy Night Horror Stories

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Hiking Trail
2. 5:00 – 10:00: Police, Snowstorm, Hiking Trail, Ambulance
3. 10:00 – 15:00: Police
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Blizzard, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Snowstorm
5. 20:00 – 23:15: Police

Notable quotes from "3 Scary TRUE Snowy Night Horror Stories"

• The next thing I remember is being in the back of an ambulance. And then after that, I remember talking to some police officers about what happened. I got the medical attention…

  about Police · at 7:01

• Like I said, things got a bit fuzzy, but I eventually went back to that hiking trail. It had snowed considerably since then, so it wasn't too surprising to find that my footprints had been snowed in.

  about Hiking Trail · at 7:52

• I should mention that my neighborhood isn't your typical suburban setup. The houses are pretty spread out and there's a lot of wooded areas between properties. It's nice in the summer, but.

  about Snowstorm · at 8:55

• Time I got in the train, it was packed with commuters heading back to the suburbs after work. Luckily, my two best friends, Charles and James, also ran track and lived on the…

  about Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles · at 16:02

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles — Person · Referenced friend (in third story) · 3 mentions · first at 16:09
  One of Sebastian’s two best friends; a fellow track runner who commutes on the same train line and gets off earlier in the storm.

Companies & orgs

• Police — Company · 6 mentions · first at 7:05

Concepts & topics

• Snowstorm — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 8:37
• Blizzard — Concept · 3 mentions · first at 16:30
  Right term, even though it wasn't even 6 yet. And snowstorm is also the right term because it went from zero to full-on blizzard in like 5 minutes.
• Ambulance — Vehicle · Medical transport · 1 mention · first at 7:03
  Essential for emergency medical services
  The next thing I remember is being in the back of an ambulance. And then after that, I remember talking to some police officers about what happened. I got the medical attention I needed and was asked to recount my story like 10 times. At.

Places & events

• Hiking Trail — Place · 2 mentions · first at 1:29

Full transcript with timestamps

0:11 I love the sound of falling snow. It's kind of like watching lightning or seeing a shooting star. It's just one of those unique things you have no control over that doesn't always present itself, but when it does, it's a treat. I'm not really the hiking type, but when it's snowing out, I just can't help myself. We've all got those irresistible cravings. This happened during one of those snowy nights. I live in a woodsy area. It's not really in the woods, per se, but it's close enough. If I wanted to access an expansive, dense forest, I'd only have to drive a few minutes. I didn't have any major obligations the next day, so it was either a Friday or Saturday, probably a Saturday, because I remember being slightly hung over from going out the previous night. It also wasn't supposed to snow that night, which I remember specifically because I have a habit of checking the weather obsessively during the winter months. I

1:05 was sitting in my room reading a book when it just started snowing abruptly as if someone had just casually flipped a switch. I didn't even notice it at first, but by the time I realized what was going on, there was already a considerable amount of snow on the ground. Without thinking too much, I instantly knew what I wanted to do. Take a snow walk. So that's what I did. The spot I drove to is pretty secluded for the most part. It's a local hiking trail that usually doesn't see that much traffic. I stepped out, admired the snowfall for a few seconds, and started walking. I didn't really have a defined plan in my mind. My only objective was to get deeper into the woods so I could more fully appreciate the snow. After about 20 minutes of walking, I was finally satisfied with how far I'd gone.

1:52 But then the literal moment I stopped to appreciate the snow, I heard something. Something that definitely didn't belong there. It was a child's voice. It took me a few moments to even process what I heard. Just as I was telling myself my mind was playing tricks on me, I heard it again. The sound of a little boy yelling, "Hi." I know that sounds pretty benign, but it was just so freaky in the moment. It was quite literally the last thing I was expecting to hear out there, all alone in those woods. The other unsettling thing about it was that I couldn't really tell where the voice had come from. It sounded like it could have come from a number of different directions, if that makes any sense. I whipped my head around, but there was no one there. I kept looking around frantically, but there was no one in sight. Just as I was about to head back to my car, I heard the voice again.

2:45 It was definitely a little boy's voice. Only this time, he said, "Up here, silly." Without even processing how freaky of a thing that is to say, I instinctively looked up. And there he was. There was a little boy who looked to be around 9 years old, just sitting on a tree branch in a tree not too far away. It was the most bizarre thing. The boy was clearly bundled up for the cold, but how he managed to climb that tree, I had no idea. The lowest branch to the ground was at least 20 ft off the ground. Strangely, seeing him kind of calmed me down a little. It was almost like I had been afraid of not knowing where he was as opposed to him being there. I walked over to the tree he was sitting on, keeping my eyes on him the entire time. He was smiling this really wide grin that reminded me of the expression someone who hadn't learned to smile yet would make. My sense of security started disappearing the more I

3:40 looked around, though. For starters, there wasn't a single footprint around the tree he was sitting in, meaning he had climbed up there before it had started snowing, meaning he had been sitting in that tree for at least 45 minutes. And that's not even mentioning the fact that he figured out a way to climb that thing in the first place. Like I said, it would have been exceedingly difficult to do so, even if you had climbing experience. The tree was perfectly straight. he would have had to shimmy me up 20 ft. He waved at me and I didn't waste a second. I asked him how he got up there and he told me it was a secret. Then he just went back to smiling that awful grin. I didn't know what to do. This kid clearly didn't belong out there and I felt compelled to do something. But what was I supposed to do? Try and climb the tree to get him down? Before I could think of something to say, he stood up straight on the

4:33 branch he had been sitting on and said, "Watch this." Then, without warning, he leaned back and fell. He fell what must have been at least 30 ft. I screamed. There was nothing else I could do. I watched in horror as he landed directly on his back with a gruesome thud. I thought he was dead. There's no way any amount of snow could have cushioned that fall. I ran over to him, but before I could reach him, he sprung up off the ground and started running away from me. It was impossible. Falling from that height should have been enough to kill him. I screamed again, this time out of shock, and I watched as he ran off deeper into the woods. Even with the bright snow on the ground, it was still dark enough for him to run out of sight.

5:17 I don't know what came over me. Instead of doing the rational thing and turning around, I ran after him. I don't know why. I know myself. If a situation like that were to arise again, I turn around 99 times out of 10. But I guess this was just that one time. That's the only explanation I can come up with. I regained my composure and started following his footprints, knowing he couldn't have gotten far. After a few seconds of running, I started to hear him laughing. Cackling is a better word. Honestly, it was really unsettling. It was like he was toying with me, playing a game while I was out there scared to death. His footprints passed a nearby tree. And as I was running past, I felt something latch onto my back. Before I could react, I was tumbling to the ground. And this kid was on top of me, clawing at my neck and shoulders. I started screaming and blindly grabbed at him, but he wasn't letting go. He

6:14 started whailing, too, and I could feel myself starting to bleed. He was tearing into my neck with his fingernails and I thought he was going to blind me. I managed to stand back up and with all my strength I flung him over my shoulder. He hit the ground immediately got up and ran deeper into the woods still laughing. This time I didn't chase him. If it weren't for the cuts on my neck and the blood on my hands, I might have just stood there forever. The cuts didn't feel that deep, but there was an uncomfortable amount of blood. I hadn't been wearing a scarf, so I pulled off my hat and wrapped it tightly around my neck. My hands were shaking and soaked with my own blood, and I was having a panic attack. The next 20 minutes are really fuzzy, probably because I was so terrified and I had lost so much blood.

7:01 The next thing I remember is being in the back of an ambulance. And then after that, I remember talking to some police officers about what happened. I got the medical attention I needed and was asked to recount my story like 10 times. At the time, I didn't realize what was so unbelievable about it. I would only later learn that while I had been in the hospital, the police had searched the area and found nothing. What's worse, they allegedly followed my footprints and only found the one set, mine. I remember being so emotionally distraught when I found that out.

7:35 I was furious at the thought that they hadn't searched the woods thoroughly. But why would they lie? By the time I was discharged from the hospital and done talking to police officers, I didn't have much energy to do anything other than sleep. I can't remember if this was the day after or 2 days after. Like I said, things got a bit fuzzy, but I eventually went back to that hiking trail. It had snowed considerably since then, so it wasn't too surprising to find that my footprints had been snowed in. I searched the entire forest. It must have taken me hours, but there was no sign anyone had been there. This is still one of the freakiest things that has ever happened to me or anyone I personally know.

8:27 This happened over winter break my sophomore year of college. I was 19 and had the house to myself for a little under 2 weeks. During the second week, a massive snowstorm hit. The forecasts were predicting something crazy, and they definitely weren't lying. By the time I woke up that Saturday, there was already close to a foot on the ground, and it was still coming down hard. Plows couldn't keep up. And by late afternoon, the roads were basically impassable. I should mention that my neighborhood isn't your typical suburban setup. The houses are pretty spread out and there's a lot of wooded areas between properties. It's nice in the summer, but in the winter it can feel kind of isolated.

9:09 That day, with the snow piling up and no cars on the road, it felt even more so. I was bored out of my mind by like 6:00 p.m. The Wi-Fi knocked out while I was sleeping, so I couldn't even pass the time by playing video games or anything. For context, my only hometown friend is this guy named Ryan. And I knew he was around because I had literally hung out with him the day before. So, while I was dying of boredom in my room, I got this idea that I thought was hilarious at the time. I was going to walk to his house and surprise him. The roads were undrivable, sure, but I figured I could make it on foot. It was only about a mile and a half, maybe a little more.

9:48 I'd walked further than that plenty of times. Looking back, it was a pretty stupid idea, but I was 19 and bored and thought it would be funny to just show up on his doorstep covered in snow. The first part of the walk was actually kind of nice. The snow had stopped falling by then, and everything was covered in this thick white blanket. The street lights made everything glow, and it was weirdly peaceful. I could hear my own breathing and the crunch of my boots, but that was about it. There wasn't a living thing out there. About halfway there, the route cuts through this stretch where there aren't any houses for a while. It's mostly just trees on both sides of the road and a few empty lots. During the day, it's nothing special. But that night, especially with all that snow, it felt different. That's when it really hit me how alone I was. It was a really strange feeling. I kept walking and out of

10:41 nowhere, I saw headlights up ahead. The lights were pretty far off, but they were coming from the direction I was headed. I stopped walking and watched them get closer. It was definitely a snow plow and it was moving really slowly, but then out of nowhere, it suddenly veered hard to the right like the driver had lost control or was trying to avoid something. I watched them cut across the road and disappear into the treeine. There was this muffled crunching sound and then everything went quiet again. My first thought was that someone had just crashed, so I started running toward where I'd seen the lights go off the road. The snow was deep and I couldn't move that fast, but the only thing on my mind was the thought that someone was hurt and needed help. It took me a few minutes to reach the spot. I could see where the vehicle had gone off the road, so I followed the tire tracks until I found it. The scene looked exactly as I

11:36 predicted, a snow plow with its front end crumpled and smashed into a tree. Its headlights were still on and the engine was still running. I ran up to the driver's side, preparing myself to have to lift someone through the snow. But when I got to the window and looked inside, there was no one there. The driver's seat was empty. I stood there for a second, not really processing what I was seeing. I thought maybe the driver had been thrown from the vehicle or something, so I looked around. The windshield wasn't shattered, though, so they must have still been inside the plow.

12:09 I checked the passenger side, but that seat was also empty. I ended up pulling the driver's door open in frustration, thinking maybe they had slumped down below the steering wheel, but there was no one there either. It took me a few seconds to realize that the entire plow was empty. There was quite literally nowhere else someone could have been. I remember just standing there in the snow, staring at this wrecked snow plow with its headlight still on and its engine still running, feeling like something was very, very wrong.

12:38 There were no footprints leading away from the truck. Whoever had been driving the thing had just vanished. It's hard for me to describe what I felt next. I got this sudden, overwhelming sense that I needed to leave. It wasn't a thought so much as a feeling, like something in my gut was forcing me to get out of there. I trusted my gut and backed away from the plow. As I was walking back the way I had came, I heard a voice ring out from somewhere behind me. It was a man's voice and he was yelling for help. I wanted to turn around and help. That was my goal in the first place. But every instinct I had was screaming at me to keep moving. I started running and as I got further away, I heard the voice yell out one more time. It sounded much closer the second time, like impossibly close. No one could have moved that fast through such deep snow. I didn't turn around. I ran the entire rest of the way

13:34 to Ryan's house. The joke was pretty much ruined at that point. I must have looked insane when his mom answered the door. I explained what happened and Ryan's dad ended up calling the police. In the time it took the police to get out there and back amidst all that snow, Ryan and I had gone back and forth about what I'd seen probably a dozen times. He kept asking if maybe I imagined it or if maybe the driver had walked away before I got there. But I knew for a fact that my eyes hadn't been playing tricks on me. When the police got to Ryan's house, they revealed something horrifying.

14:09 Apparently, they hadn't found any tire tracks on that round at all. They had searched the entire road, but there was no sign that a plow had ever even been there. The officer actually accused me of making the entire thing up, and I had to argue my case. I was practically begging them to believe me. The officer ended up just leaving, and there was nothing I could do about it. I stayed at Ryan's that night. I didn't want to walk back home in the dark. And honestly, I don't think I could have even if I wanted to. The next morning, after the plows had finally cleared the roads, Ryan's dad drove me home. I've thought about that night a lot since then. And every time I do, I come to the unfortunate conclusion that what happened to me is just one of those unexplainable things. I guess it's possible that I hallucinated the whole thing, but that terrifies me just as much.

15:08 I'm Sebastian and I go by Sebie. This happened back when I was a sophomore in high school about 7 years ago now. I went to a private school in a nearby city, which meant I had to commute on public transportation every day. Train in the morning, train in the afternoon. It sounds tedious, but honestly, I didn't mind it. Most of my friends lived in the same general area, so we'd all ride together. And it became this social thing where we'd just hang out and talk during the commute. One of the hidden benefits of private school, honestly, getting people accustomed to commuting early in life. I was a runner back then, track in the spring, cross country in the fall. During the off season, I'd catch the train right after school let out around 3, and it would be pretty empty. Usually just the same group of high schoolers heading home. But during the season, practice wouldn't wrap up until after 5:30, which meant by the

16:02 time I got in the train, it was packed with commuters heading back to the suburbs after work. Luckily, my two best friends, Charles and James, also ran track and lived on the same train line, so I wasn't completely alone during those late rides. One night after track practice, it started snowstorming the moment our train left the station. It was mid-inter, so night is definitely the right term, even though it wasn't even 6 yet. And snowstorm is also the right term because it went from zero to full-on blizzard in like 5 minutes.

16:35 We found out while we were on the train that ours was the last one operating on that track. The forecast was predicting a massive storm, and they weren't letting any more trains leave the station after us. The snow only got worse. At one point, the three of us were genuinely wondering if the train was even going to make it to each of our stops. And even so, we quickly realized there was no way our parents could drive to pick us up. The roads were already a mess. So, even if we made it to our respective stations, we'd have no choice but to walk home. For James and Charles, that wasn't a huge deal. They were practically nextdoor neighbors in a pretty lively, dense part of town. Plus, their houses weren't that far from the station. For me, though, it was different. My station was isolated. I'd have to cross a highway and then walk over a mile in this woodsy stretch to get home. I called my parents from the

17:26 train and explained the situation. They told me I didn't have much of a choice. My dad told me to just suck it up, bundle up, and be careful. James and Charles got off at their stop and I dapped them goodbye. The rest of the ride was just me and a handful of other passengers. And by the time we reached my station, I was the only one left. The doors opened and I stepped out onto the platform. It was completely empty, just me and a full blizzard. It was dark, but there was decent visibility because of the snow. Everything was white, and the light from the station reflected off of it in this pretty but eerie way. I stood there for a second, taking it in. It was a sight I had never seen before. Usually that station is bustling with cars and people, but with the snowstorm and all, it looked completely deserted. I started walking.

18:19 There was no point in prolonging the inevitable. For whatever reason, I thought crossing the highway would have been more difficult, but there wasn't a single car anywhere in sight, including snow plows. I actually stopped and looked around kind of in awe. It was beautiful in a weird way. I started thinking to myself, I'd probably never experience anything like that ever again. After the highway, though came the woods. The only other option was following the road home, but it was really windy and would have added a ton more walking, so I decided to just push through and walk through the woods. I don't know how long I'd been walking, but I happened to glance up after looking down at my feet for a while. And the moment I did, I had to hold back a yell. About 30 yards ahead of me, there was someone standing there, a man. He was facing me directly, almost like he knew the exact path I had to take. At

19:15 first, my brain couldn't process what I was seeing because he wasn't dressed for the weather at all. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts in the middle of a blizzard. And to make things worse, his face was twisted in this deranged smile. I didn't move. I just stood there watching him, waiting to see what he was going to do. My mind was racing, trying to come up with some explanation, but the shock of the situation was too much for me to handle. I couldn't think or move, and in one abrupt motion, he went from smiling and standing still to screaming and charging at me. It was literal horror unfolding right in front of me. I snapped out of my haze and began running as fast as I could back the way I came, screaming for help, even though I knew no one was out there. I couldn't move that fast with all the snow, and I felt him closing the gap with every second that passed.

20:09 The chase felt like it lasted forever. It was probably 5 minutes, but it felt like an hour. I finally broke out of the woods and hit the road, and only then did I turn around. He was gone, and that didn't make me feel much better, though. I felt physically sick. I followed the road home and the whole time I kept thinking about my footprints, about how they were quite literally the only tracks in the snow. If that guy wanted to follow me home, it would have been the easiest thing in the world. When I finally got to my house, my parents were relieved. That is until I told them what had happened in the woods. My dad wanted to go out and look for the guy, but my mom wouldn't let him.

20:52 Several hours went by without incident. Eventually, my parents went to sleep. I pretended like everything was fine, but I was still freaking out internally. I couldn't get the image of his deranged smile out of my head. And the way he had been screaming was just so unnatural. And the more I thought about it, the more insane the whole thing felt. He had literally been wearing short sleeves. How had he not frozen to death out there? I was making myself crazy, so I forced myself to stop thinking about it and just go to sleep. But of course, I couldn't fall asleep. It was like I was in that 30-second shock after waking up from a nightmare. Only instead of 30 seconds, it was several hours. That's the best way I can describe how I was feeling. At one point, I heard a tree branch rattle my bedroom window, which startled me out of bed. I went over to the window to see if I could dislodge it somehow. I pulled back the curtain and

21:50 literally dropped to the floor yelling. It was him, that guy from earlier. He was right there, inches from my window, only now I could see him clearly. His skin was purple, like he was freezing to death, and he was bald with his patchy gray beard. My dad burst into the room and just barely saw that guy through the window before he took off. My dad went to go run out in the snow, but my mom stopped him and convinced him to call the police instead, which he did. With all the snow on the grounds, it took the police forever to get to our house. By the time they did, that guy was long gone. My dad didn't care, though. The police could have easily tracked his footprints in the snow, which is what I was expecting them to do. But once the officers realized the tracks led into the woods behind our house, they told us they couldn't just go tramping through the woods in the middle of the night. My

22:41 dad got furious. He got in one of the officer's faces and almost made it physical. In the end, the officers literally left without doing a thing. Nothing ever came of it. The police never bothered to follow up and I never saw that man again. For all I know, he froze to death somewhere behind my house. But for weeks after that, I was terrified to be in my own home. I still have absolutely no idea how to explain what happened.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "3 Scary TRUE Snowy Night Horror Stories"?

In order: 0:00 Hiking Trail; 5:00 Police, Snowstorm, Hiking Trail, Ambulance; 10:00 Police; 15:00 Blizzard, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Snowstorm; 20:00 Police.

What is mentioned in this Mr. Nightmare episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Police, Snowstorm, Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles, Blizzard, Hiking Trail, Ambulance. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "3 Scary TRUE Snowy Night Horror Stories"?

The episode runs 23 min; the transcript is about 4,358 words in 29 timestamped sections.

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